The Malay Mahayana Buddhism

Elements of Indian civilisation, especially Hinduism and Mahayana Buddhism, were brought to Sumatra and Java, which stimulated the emergence of centralised states and highly organised societies. The earliest inscriptions found in the Malay Archipelago indicate that writing was a means of keeping information about sacred events.

Srivijaya was the first dominant power to arise in the Malay Archipelago. It was a notable centre of Buddhist learning and attracted many monks and pilgrims.

The Majapahit Empire was an Indianised kingdom based in eastern Java from 1293 to around 1500. At its peak, it dominated other islands and neighbouring kingdoms to gain a larger share of commercial trade and asserted the dominant political influence in the region.

“Batak” is a collective term used to identify a number of ethnic groups in the highlands of North Sumatra who have distinct and related languages and customs. They were known as very fierce warriors. The Batak alphabet, or surat batak, is descended ultimately from the Brahmi script of ancient India by way of the Pallava and Old Kawi scripts. It is also closely related to the Sumatran scripts. In most Batak communities, only the datu (priests) were literate in the script, which was used mainly for magical texts and calendars.

Pustaha (books of divination or healing) were written by the datu or guru (Batak magicians and healers) to record magical rituals, mantras, recipes and almanacs. A pustaha is made by folding the bark of an alim tree like an accordion, then glueing it to two wooden covers.

Batak calendar is not a calendar in the modern sense of the word, but a diviner’s instrument to identify auspicious days. The 12 or 13 squares along the bamboo’s length denote the months, while the 30 running across it denote the days.

Originating from southwest Sulawesi, the Bugis rose to prominence in the 18th century as a leading naval power in the Malay Archipelago. They were respected and feared as sailors, traders and voyagers. The Bugis used the Lontara script (derived from the Malay word for the palmyra palm, lontar, used to make manuscripts) to write laws, treaties and maps.

The Lontara and Makasar scripts are descended from the Brahmi script of ancient India. Chief among the Bugis literary classics is La Galigo, an account of the creation and princely rituals and conducts, which provides a glimpse of pre-Islamic Bugis religion.

Lontara is the word for “manuscript” in south Sulawesi, from the Javanese/Malay lontar (palm) leaf. This manuscript describes poda or advice on mantras, defending oneself against bad omens, moral values and for men looking for wives. The text is written on one line on rolled-up leaves and can only be read by unwinding the roll between the two reels.

Kutika or divination diagrams are consulted to determine auspicious and inauspicious occasions. This manuscript contains common guidelines for building a house, being thrifty, identifying auspicious occasions and understanding signs of an impending earthquake. It also lists the names of prophets, the Yasin verses of the Qur’an and other matters concerning the Bugis people.

The Sundanese are an ethnic group in the western part of the island of Java. The Sundanese script is a descendant of the ancient Brahmi script of India, and so has many similarities with modern scripts of South Asia and Southeast Asia. The oldest known Sundanese literary work is Caritha Parahyangan. It was written about 1000 AD and glorifies the Javanese king Sanjaya as a great warrior.

Manuscripts were commonly made from lontar (palm) leaves. There were two means of inscribing: a peso pangot (a kind of knife) produced square letters, while a pen, made from the stem of an anau leaf or bamboo, and ink produced rounded letters. This manuscript records the principles for a happier and more prosperous life and afterlife, based on Hindu and Buddhist ideology.

A set of instructions from Raja Rahyang Niskala Wastu Kancana, entrusted to Susuhunan to manage the regions of Jayagiri and Sunda Sembawa. Among other things, it prohibits the collection of taxes from the local people because they are true and faithful believers of the faith.

Borobudur, or Barabudur, is a 9th-century Mahayana Buddhist monument near Magelang,Central Java, Indonesia. The monument comprises six square platforms topped by three circular platforms, and is decorated with 2,672 relief panels and 504 Buddha statues. A main dome, located at the center of the top platform, is surrounded by 72 Buddha statues seated inside perforated stupa.

The monument is both a shrine to the Lord Buddha and a place for Buddhist pilgrimage. The journey for pilgrims begins at the base of the monument and follows a path circumambulatingthe monument while ascending to the top through the three levels of Buddhist cosmology, namely Kāmadhātu (the world of desire), Rupadhatu (the world of forms) and Arupadhatu (the world of formlessness). During the journey the monument guides the pilgrims through a system of stairways and corridors with 1,460 narrative relief panels on the wall and thebalustrades.

Evidence suggests Borobudur was abandoned following the 14th-century decline of Buddhist and Hindu kingdoms in Java, and the Javanese conversion to Islam.

There is no written record of who built Borobudur or of its intended purpose. The construction time has been estimated by comparison between carved reliefs on the temple's hidden foot and the inscriptions commonly used in royal charters during the 8th and 9th centuries. Borobudur was likely founded around 800 AD. This corresponds to the period between 760 and 830 AD, the peak of the Sailendra dynasty in central Java, when it was under the influence of the Srivijayan Empire. The construction has been estimated to have taken 75 years and been completed during the reign of Samaratungga in 825.

There is confusion between Hindu and Buddhist rulers in Java around that time. The Sailendras were known as ardent followers of Lord Buddha, though stone inscriptions found at Sojomerto suggest they may have been Hindus. It was during this time that many Hindu and Buddhist monuments were built on the plains and mountain around the Kedu Plain. The Buddhist monuments, including Borobudur, were erected around the same time as the Hindu ShivaPrambanan temple compound. In 732 AD, the Shivaite King Sanjaya commissioned a Shivalinga sanctuary to be built on the Ukir hill, only 10 km (6.2 miles) east of Borobudur.

Construction of Buddhist temples, including Borobudur, at that time was possible because Sanjaya's immediate successor, Rakai Panangkaran, granted his permission to the Buddhist followers to build such temples. In fact, to show his respect, Panangkaran gave the village of Kalasan to the Buddhist community, as is written in the Kalasan Charter dated 778 AD. This has led some archaeologists to believe that there was never serious conflict concerning religion in Java as it was possible for a Hindu king to patronize the establishment of a Buddhist monument; or for a Buddhist king to act likewise.

However, it is likely that there were two rival royal dynasties in Java at the time—the Buddhist Sailendra and the Saivite Sanjaya—in which the latter triumphed over their rival in the 856 battle on the Ratubaka plateau. This confusion also exists regarding the Lara Jonggrang temple at the Prambanan complex, which was believed that it was erected by the victor Rakai Pikatan as the Sanjaya dynasty's reply to Borobudur, but others suggest that there was a climate of peaceful coexistence where Sailendra involvement exists in Lara Jonggrang.

Borobudur lay hidden for centuries under layers of volcanic ash and jungle growth. The facts behind its abandonment remain a mystery. It is not known when active use of the monument and Buddhist pilgrimage to it ceased. Somewhere between 928 and 1006, the center of power moved to East Java region and a series of volcanic eruptions took place; it is not certain whether the latter influenced the former but several sources mention this as the most likely period of abandonment. Soekmono (1976) also mentions the popular belief that the temples were disbanded when the population converted to Islam in the 15th century.

The monument was not forgotten completely, though folk stories gradually shifted from its past glory into more superstitious beliefs associated with bad luck and misery. Two old Javanese chronicles (babad) from the 18th century mention cases of bad luck associated with the monument. According to the Babad Tanah Jawi (or the History of Java), the monument was a fatal factor for a rebel who revolted against the king of Mataram in 1709. The hill was besieged and the insurgents were defeated and sentenced to death by the king. In the Babad Mataram (or the History of the Mataram Kingdom), the monument was associated with the misfortune of the crown prince of the Yogyakarta Sultanate in 1757. In spite of a taboo against visiting the monument, "he took what is written as the knight who was captured in a cage (a statue in one of the perforated stupas)". Upon returning to his palace, he fell ill and died one day later.

Following the Anglo-Dutch Java War, Java was under British administration from 1811 to 1816. The appointed governor was Lieutenant Governor-General Thomas Stamford Raffles, who took great interest in the history of Java. He collected Javanese antiques and made notes through contacts with local inhabitants during his tour throughout the island. On an inspection tour to Semarang in 1814, he was informed about a big monument deep in a jungle near the village of Bumisegoro. He was not able to make the discovery himself and sent H.C. Cornelius, a Dutch engineer, to investigate.

In two months, Cornelius and his 200 men cut down trees, burned down vegetation and dug away the earth to reveal the monument. Due to the danger of collapse, he could not unearth all galleries. He reported his findings to Raffles including various drawings. Although the discovery is only mentioned by a few sentences, Raffles has been credited with the monument's recovery, as one who had brought it to the world's attention.

Hartmann, a Dutch administrator of the Kedu region, continued Cornelius' work and in 1835 the whole complex was finally unearthed. His interest in Borobudur was more personal than official. Hartmann did not write any reports of his activities; in particular, the alleged story that he discovered the large statue of Buddha in the main stupa. In 1842, Hartmann investigated the main dome although what he discovered remains unknown as the main stupa remains empty.

The Dutch East Indies government then commissioned F.C. Wilsen, a Dutch engineering official, who studied the monument and drew hundreds of relief sketches. J.F.G. Brumund was also appointed to make a detailed study of the monument, which was completed in 1859. The government intended to publish an article based on Brumund study supplemented by Wilsen's drawings, but Brumund refused to cooperate. The government then commissioned another scholar, C. Leemans, who compiled a monograph based on Brumund's and Wilsen's sources. In 1873, the first monograph of the detailed study of Borobudur was published, followed by its French translation a year later. The first photograph of the monument was taken in 1873 by a Dutch-Flemish engraver, Isidore van Kinsbergen.

Appreciation of the site developed slowly, and it served for some time largely as a source of souvenirs and income for "souvenir hunters" and thieves. In 1882, the chief inspector of cultural artifacts recommended that Borobudur be entirely disassembled with the relocation of reliefs into museums due to the unstable condition of the monument. As a result, the government appointed Groenveldt, an archeologist, to undertake a thorough investigation of the site and to assess the actual condition of the complex; his report found that these fears were unjustified and recommended it be left intact.

Following the major 1973 renovation funded by UNESCO, Borobudur is once again used as a place of worship and pilgrimage. Once a year, during the full moon in May or June, Buddhists in Indonesia observeVesak (Indonesian: Waisak) day commemorating the birth, death, and the time when Siddhārtha Gautamaattained the highest wisdom to become the Buddha Shakyamuni. Vesak is an official national holiday in Indonesia and the ceremony is centered at the three Buddhist temples by walking from Mendut toPawon and ending at Borobudur.